BCS Bowl Predictions: Oklahoma State and Stanford Will Clash in Epic Fiesta Bowl

The Oklahoma State Cowboys will be No. 3 when the BCS rankings are updated on Sunday evening, but the odds of them making it to the BCS Championship Game are pretty slim.

The only way the Pokes are making it to the title game is if LSU loses the SEC Championship Game to Georgia, which I don't think is going to happen. Even if it does, I don't think LSU would slip down to No. 3, thus allowing Oklahoma State to grab the No. 2 spot and subsequently sneak into the title game.

So long story short, winning the Big 12 and going to the Fiesta Bowl is probably the best the Pokes can hope for at this juncture.

But first things first. In order to win the Big 12, the Pokes must win the Bedlam game against Oklahoma, which will be played in Stillwater on Saturday.

The Sooners are going to be tough to knock off, but I think the Pokes are going to be able to get it done. Oklahoma's offense has gone into a mysterious slump (at least by traditional Sooner standards), and even Landry Jones is struggling. He hasn't thrown a touchdown pass in two straight games, which is something that's just not supposed to happen.

Oklahoma State will have to rebound from its embarrassing effort at Iowa State, but that shouldn't be an issue. Goodness knows an extra week to rest and strategize should help.

Once the Pokes win the Bedlam game and punch their ticket to the Fiesta Bowl, the question will be which team they're going to play.

The way things are looking right now, I think it's going to be an easy choice. The Fiesta Bowl gets first dibs at the at-large teams, and the Stanford Cardinal will be too good to pass up.

The allure of this matchup will be (OK fine, "would be") in the battle between the two quarterbacks: Oklahoma State's Brandon Weeden and Stanford's Andrew Luck. Both are in the Heisman picture, and my best guess is that Luck will have the Heisman in his pocket by the time this game rolls around on Jan. 2.

Defensively, neither the Pokes nor the Cardinal are elite. Oklahoma State is allowing just over 27 points per game this season, and the Cardinal have looked very human on defense against the good offensive teams they've played this season (see USC and Oregon).

So in all likelihood, this matchup would quickly turn into a back-and-forth kind of game, with Weeden and Luck exchanging blows. Odds are the game would be close late, creating an opportunity for one quarterback to seal his legacy with a defining moment.

If things actually pan out this way, this whole BCS thing won't look like such a bad idea after all.